SUWANEE, Ga. - With one week left on the conference schedule, four spots remain (three East, one West) for the 2009 SCAC Tournament in Jackson, Miss. Trinity University, by sweeping three from Southwestern, became the second team to earn a berth in the tournament.

Elsewhere, Millsaps College jumped two spots to No. 1 in the D3baseball.com poll for the first time in program history. It marks the school's highest ever ranking in any sport. The 2008 Millsaps football team peaked at No. 3 by D3football.com and the 2007-08 men's basketball team finished at No. 6 in the final D3hoops.com poll that season.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin took one of four games last week, falling to both Hardin-Simmons and McMurry in non-conference match ups before splitting its two game series with Hendrix in Conway. After Hardin-Simmons proved to be too much offensively on Tuesday, the ‘Roos fell 11-3 in their second game of the year against McMurry. Jordan Robison went 2-for-5 and Scooter Merritt scored twice in the loss. The ’Roos used a five run sixth inning on Friday to take a 6-2 win over Hendrix with Will Chermak tossing a complete game and striking out 12 batters to get the win. Robison again came up big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a triple. John Reisig and Patrick Ray each had a pair of hits. On Saturday the Warriors got out to a 9-2 lead after four innings and the ‘Roos were unable to come back in a 12-7 loss. Bennett Herrick went 2-for-5 with a double and two runs batted in and Reisig added a triple in the loss.

Birmingham-Southern went 3-1 this week, including taking two at home from Rhodes College to inch closer to their first division championship since joining the conference. The Panthers won their non-conference game against Piedmont, 6-1. The series with Rhodes began on Thursday so it could be wrapped up before the Easter holiday. The Panthers took game one 6-1. Clay Malcolm collected his seventh win of the season, maintaining his perfect 7-0 record on the year. Friday's game went 10 innings to find a winner, and unfortunately for the Panthers the Lynx got two runs in the top half to put the Panthers away, 13-11. BSC still took the series on Saturday afternoon in the Panther's final home game of the season, 5-1. The Panthers finished the week two games in front of DePauw with three conference games to play. They travel to Centre next weekend to close out their SCAC schedule. They have one non-conference game with in-state Huntingdon College on Tuesday in Montgomery.

Centre played four road games last week going 1-3 with a pair of one-run losses and another by only three runs. The Colonels traveled to Crestview Hills, Ky. Tuesday and held a 10-8 lead into the bottom of the eighth but couldn't hold on as Thomas More won 11-10. Centre then traveled to Greencastle, Ind. to play DePauw in a three-game series. DePauw won game one 4-1. The Colonels led 4-2 into the bottom of the eighth in game two, but again failed to hold the lead falling 5-4. Centre then trailed 9-6 in the ninth inning of game three but rallied with three runs to tie the game at nine apiece, before scoring a run in the 10th to win 10-9. Centre, now 7-19 overall and 4-5 in the SCAC will play Mount St. Joseph at home Wednesday and then host Birmingham Southern in a three-game series this weekend.

DePauw split its four games last week as it lost to in-state foe Rose-Hulman by an 11-2 score on Wednesday before taking two of three from Centre over the weekend. The Tigers swept a doubleheader from the Colonels on Saturday by scores of 4-1 and 5-4. I Centre took the series finale by a 10-9 score in 10 innings. Rob McPike hit .500 (8-16) for the week and drove in five with a .563 slugging percentage. Brad Gerlach pitched a complete game shutout in the series opener with Centre and allowed just one run while striking out nine.

Hendrix went 3-1 this week with a pair of mid-week wins over cross-town foe Central Baptist College and a two-game split against western division foe Austin College over the weekend. The Warriors took down CBC with a 17-3 win in the opener and a 6-3 victory in the nightcap on Tuesday. Hendrix fell to the Kangaroos 6-2 on Friday night before earning a 12-7 senior day victory on Saturday. Hendrix now stands at 15-20 overall and 8-9 in SCAC action. Senior CF Daniel Ward led the way at the plate against CBC by going 3-for-4 with a triple, a double, four RBI and three runs scored in the doubleheader. Junior RHP Dave Keine picked up a pair of wins this week after tossing 9.0 innings, scattering 10 hits and allowing just two earned runs. Keine walked just one batter and fanned eight hitters.

No. 1 Millsaps put together a 4-0 week to improve to 30-4 overall, defeating non-conference opponents MS College, Louisiana College and Emory University. In completing a season sweep of the Choctaws on Monday, senior Drew Maddox set new career highs with 10 strikeouts in 8.0 innings of relief work and senior teammate Hayes Brian drove in the go-ahead run on a squeeze bunt in the 10th as Millsaps earned a hard-fought, 12-10 victory. Hunter Owen and Will Hawkins hit back-to-back home runs as part of an explosive six-run sixth inning and Millsaps outlasted Louisiana College on Tuesday night 17-13. The Majors completed a three-game season sweep over Emory with 6-3 and 6-0 wins on Friday and Saturday, as Tait Hendrix and Shelby Robertson combined for a three-hit shutout on the mound in the finale to help the Majors become the second fastest team in Division III to 30 wins this season.

Oglethorpe continued its 2009 renaissance by taking 3 out of 4 games this past week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Petrels split two one-run games with cross- town rival Emory. On Wednesday at Oglethorpe, the Petrels rallied to tie the score at 8 with two outs in the 9th inning and went on to win by the count of 9-8 in eleven innings. Sophomore sensation Daniel Sarisky continued to dominate the mound, this time by striking out 11 of the 17 batters he faced while allowing zero runs in 4 and 2/3 innings. On Wednesday at Emory, the Eagles exacted a measure of revenge by rallying from down 2-1 late to record a 3-2 victory in 9 innings. Chris Lucas allowed only one hit in his 5 innings on the mound but the Eagles were able to scratch out the win. Over the weekend, Oglethorpe swept a Saturday doubleheader over Sewanee, winning game one 2-1 behind the strong arm of Sean Tuttle and taking game two 11-1 after a complete game performance from pitcher John Hale. The Petrels are now 19-12 (4-4 SCAC) on the season.
Rhodes went 1-2 on the week as they traveled to Birmingham to take on Birmingham Southern. Rhodes dropped the first game of the series, 6-1 on Thursday night, then defeated BSC 13-11 in 10 innings on Friday night, before losing the final game 5-1 on Saturday. Rhodes was led by sophomore RF Matt Gilbert who hit .500 on the week (5-10) with 2 doubles, a homerun, 3 RBIs, and 2 runs scored. Senior 3B Mason Mosby was 6-14 (.428) with 2 doubles, 2 RBIs, 2 runs scored, and stole 2 bases. Rhodes is now 22-14 and 6-6 in SCAC play.

After Friday's game was cancelled for weather, Sewanee and Oglethorpe got two games of the SCAC weekend series in. The Tigers put up a fight in game one, falling 2-1 in the end to the Petrels. OU came out hard in game two and earned the 11-1 win over Sewanee. Freshman Taylor Irwin led Sewanee from the plate by batting .714 (5-7) for the day. His season average is .441 - tops for the Tigers. Sewanee is now 8-17 and will play a doubleheader at Maryville (Tenn.) on Wednesday before playing at Rhodes this weekend.

Southwestern fell to 15-20 overall and 5-9 in SCAC action after going 0-4 this week. On Tuesday the Pirates faced off against Texas Lutheran in non-conference action and lost 5-3. SU then headed to San Antonio for a crucial three-game series against Trinity. Going into the weekend the Pirates were all alone in second place. Saturday, Trinity posted 27 hits and 16 runs in two games while holding Southwestern to just two runs and 11 hits in the same span as the Pirates fell 10-0 and 6-2 in the double header. Sunday was a completely different story as both the Pirates and Tigers struggled from the plate. They combined for just one run and seven hits in the extra inning pitching dual which saw Trinity take the 1-0 victory on a two out single in the bottom of the tenth. Southwestern is now deadlocked with Hendrix for the third and final playoff spot at the SCAC conference tournament. It just so happens that the two teams face off in a three game series at Rockwell Family Baseball Field in Georgetown, Texas that begins on Saturday at 2:00 pm.

Trinity secured its spot in the SCAC baseball tournament by sweeping a three-game SCAC weekend series from Southwestern, finishing 3-1 overall last week. Trinity lost a 10-6 game to Mary Hardin-Baylor on Tuesday night at E.M. Stevens Field, then put forth its best pitching effort of the season to take three games from Southwestern and qualify for the tournament. The Tigers won the opening game of a Friday doubleheader 10-0 in seven innings, then tossed seven shutout innings to start the second game – keying a 6-2 win. On Saturday, it was a true pitcher’s duel as neither team scored through regulation, needing a 10th inning RBI single by the Tigers to decide the 1-0 game. Evan Bronson tossed a complete-game, three-hit shutout to start the series, then Noah Solomon gave up just two runs through eight innings to earn the win in game two. In the series finale, Mike Hunter pitched four hitless innings, then was relieved in the sixth. Michael Panozzo, who finished off the second game on Friday, then closed the door in the finale by not allowing a hit over the final 4.2 innings and earning the win. After playing Schreiner in the team’s final regular season home game, Trinity will take on Millsaps College in a three-game weekend road series to finish off the regular season.

For the complete SCAC Diamond Weekly for Week 10, click here.